Change

‘The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’   John 3:8-9

I am in a new place.  Following the United Methodist itinerant system, I have been appointed to a new congregation.  I couldn’t be happier.

Christ United Methodist Church is a lovely congregation in Roswell, Georgia.  I had preached here once before, filling in on a Sunday, and loved it.  But I really lost my heart when I learned they had just begun a community garden.  Any church that prioritizes growing things and feeding people is alright in my book.  I feel very blessed to be here and grateful to be a part of our UM system in which our leaders thoughtfully try to make matches between gifts and needs, churches and pastors.  Together, we all pray that God will be at work – in the moving and the staying – and that these new partnerships will bear fruit.

Newness can be both exciting and painful.  Change can never come without at least some combination of both things.  There is always loss.  There is always growth.  In the process, we begin to realize just how much less control we have than we like to imagine.  We are used to putting our lives in order in the way we want; creating as much comfort as we can while still meeting our obligations to the world around us.  When we put our beliefs and expectations in place, our world is rocked when they are forced to shift.

Change, however, offers more than just occasional benefits.  It is essential to our presence among the living.  I have watched my garden this summer as seeds have become seedlings then fully grown plants that bear fruit, offering back seeds of their own.  Such changes are needed for our survival.  Were we never to experience the momentous turn of events that brings us into the world, or the transformations that come from leaving infancy and moving through many further stages, then we would never have a life.  Growing up, we experience the pain of our bones stretching, but we gain the benefits that come with maturity and the ability to reach tall shelves.

In my plants, as in my life, change is how I know God is at work.  If we want to get technical about it, I suppose there is never a moment in our lives when God is not up to something.  There isn’t an instant when we are not growing, when nothing is coming around the bend.  I admit, however, that I love sensing the excitement of God’s presence when it can almost be felt in the air, in the breeze that whispers of something new coming.   If we have given our lives to God, there is nothing to do but stand on our toes and let the wind take us.

I am making another, smaller change.  Though I am not yet finished with the Bass Family and Friends Cookbook, it is time to start something new.  I’m going to begin making recipes from Food to Live By: The Earthbound Farm Organic Cookbook by Myra Goodman with Linda Holland and Pamela McKinstry.  I’ll keep writing – and printing - the recipes from the Bass Family and Friends Cookbook until I have exhausted it, but I wanted to start this new book while lots of fresh produce was becoming available.  Veggies and fruit are now starting to flow across the tables of farmers markets and roadside stands.  I want to take advantage.

Recently we had a marvelous meal of Carrot and Ginger Soup and Cornbread Salad, with Basil-Blackberry Crumble for dessert.  The crumble comes from Barbara Kingsolver’s book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and can be found online here.  The recipe for Cornbread Salad is below.

Blessed eating!

Cornbread Salad

1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix           9-12 strips bacon

½ c. sweet pickles, chopped        1 bell pepper, chopped fine

4 med. tomatoes, chopped         1 med. onion, chopped

1 c. mayonnaise                                                ¼ c. sweet pickle juice

Prepare corn muffin mix as directed on box.  Fry bacon until crisp; crumble.  Lightly toss chopped vegetables and bacon together.  Set aside. Combine the mayonnaise and sweet pickle juice.  Layer cornbread with vegetable mixture.  Drizzle half the mayonnaise mixture on top of the vegetables.  Repeat the layers.  Chill before serving. – Rhonda Bass

Family

May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.”
For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, “Peace be within you.”
For the sake of the house of the LORD our God,
   I will seek your prosperity.

                                                Psalm 122:7-9

There are events in each of our lives that call to mind the importance of family.  Mine come along each year in early June.  I wrote about The Singing in an earlier post. It is a long-standing tradition with me and my kin.  When the time rolls around, we pack the car head for the beautiful LA (Lower Alabama).  Ahead of (or sometimes after) that, our family will gather for a few days at the beach for general visiting and catching up.  This week-long ritual has also become time-honored tradition.

Eating traditions are also a part of this visit.  Most involve local restaurants and lots of seafood.  But one of the most significant ones is our family shrimp boil.  We find the night of the week that we can all get together – out-of-towners have all arrived, locals are off work – and gather at the beach for a low country boil.  We have been doing this for more years than I can count.

This year, I decided to add to the mix of family customs.  I invited the family to the condo where we were staying in to cook a dinner from the Bass Family and Friends Cookbook.  The menu was rather different from our low country boil, but it came from all family recipes which made it special.  I made Aggie Caviar, Tamale Casserole, Tasty Pasta Salad, Praline Cookies and – because it just seemed right – Hot Dog Bun Pie.  I also made an unsuccessful attempt at shrimp and grits from our low country leftovers.  I won’t trouble you with that recipe.

Cooking this meal was not without its complications.  There the usual number of spills, burns, and gaffes.  I asked my cousin to pick up a few ingredients on her way over, not realizing she was still an hour away.  I have a tanless spot on my wrist where an oven burn was healing during my week in the sun.  Still, by the time it was all over, we had had a pretty good meal and a good time together.  We had gathered around a metaphorical table – some of us balanced plates on our laps while sitting in recliners and love seats – and were fed with both cuisine and company

I didn’t need to cook again until I prepared my offering for The Singing.  In past years, I have simply added my name to the buckets of chicken, baked beans, potato salad and cole slaw my parents brought.  But recently, I have wanted to bring a dish of my own, rather than mooch the credit off Mom and Dad.

My choice has always been cookies or some similar item because they travel well, they’re pretty easy to make and don’t require pre-heating (not that heating is usually an issue on a June afternoon in the church yard).  This year, I made Cornflake Candy.  They were like cookies in size and shape, while being made of the delicious combination of peanut butter and corn syrup.  After mixing it all together, I carefully separated out each individual piece to dry and harden.  It did neither.  By the time I opened my Tupperware at the church, the pieces of candy were all one again.  Still they received good reviews and I was happy to be a contributor to the feast.

I have been going to the Singing since I can remember, beginning long before I was old enough to grasp its significance.  For years, it was simply the day when I ran around in the grass and dirt behind the church where people were singing.  I would play with cousins I barely knew, wave sticks, climb on logs, and watch the cement tables fill up with food brought from kitchens near and far.  And at around noon – heaven! – we would eat.

The Singing – known to most as Homecoming at Shady Hill Baptist Church – has been going on long before I was in attendance in the world.  In the foyer of the church are pictures of the different buildings that have been Shady Hill Church.  The oldest picture was taken in the 19^th century of a log building which served as both school and worship space.  In the photo, a vibrant congregation sits with books open, ready to sing.  This community of faith has been housed in several different structures over its years, each sitting serenely along an unpaved road.  Each new building had a picture on the foyer table; a tribute to a church with a long and ongoing story.

Inside the church, I struggled to follow unfamiliar hymns written with shape notes, and to make meaningful the language of “Fa Sol La.”  Outside the church, I struggled to remember the names of relatives, and to repel bugs while welcoming familiar faces.  We placed flowers on the graves of departed family; some had lived to be elderly and others had celebrated only one birthday.  In the informal rituals of hugs, mosquito slapping, and calling the children not to jump on the graves, I was profoundly grateful to have family.

Being family is not always easy, but ours will tell us who we are and where we have come from.  Whether or not we always get along, family helps us find solid ground in a world that is far bigger than we are.  In the process of being family, we will try things that don’t work.  We will have unrealistic expectations.  We will make messes and get burned.  Still, through it all, we will be family.  If we play our cards right, family will mean we are not alone in the world.  If we stick with it, the result will be something delightful, something worth relishing, or at the very least something that feeds us.

The recipes I used on this trip were all great, so I’m printing every one of them here – with the exception of Hot Dog Bun Pie which is printed in this post.

Blessed eating!

Aggie Caviar

3 cans pintos, rinsed                       1 red bell pepper, chopped

2 cans whole kernel corn              1 c. chopped parsley

1 can Rotel                                          1 can diced tomatoes

½ bunch green onions,chopped                1 large sweet onion, chopped

1 large bottle of FF Italian dressing

Chili powder, cumin, and cilantro to taste (I use about 2-3 t. each)

Drain all canned vegetables.  Mix all ingredients and refrigerate overnight.  This keeps well for several days.  Serve with tortilla chips. – Diane Taylor

Tamale Casserole

1½ lbs. hamburger                           1 can Mexicorn

1 pkg. taco seasonings                   1-2 cups grated cheese

1 8 oz. can tomato sauce               1 pkg. Martha White Mexican Cornbread

Crumble and brown hamburger, drain when cooked.  Add the taco seasoning, Mexicorn, tomato sauce and a little water (1/3 cup?) and bring to a boil while stirring.  Spray an 8x8 baking pan or round baking dish with cooking spray, add the hamburger mixture and sprinkle with the grated cheese.  In a small bowl combine the Mexican Cornbread Mix with about ¾ cup of water, stir until mixed.  Spread over the meat and cheese in the pan and bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes. – Donna Russell

Tasty Pasta Salad

2 c. small shell pasta (cooked and cooled)             1 c. whole kernel corn

1 c. frozen green peas                                                   1 c. raw spinach, chopped

1 lg. or 2 reg. Size tomatoes, chopped

Dressing:

2 T. yellow mustard         1 c. mayonnaise

¼ c. vegetable oil             ¼ c. sugar

4 T vinegar                          ½ onions, grated very finely

Mix and pour over pasta mixture.  Chill. – Ann Bass

Praline Cookies

Place graham crackers on foil on a cookie sheet.  Cook 2 sticks butter or margarine with 1 c. brown sugar for 2-3 minutes, until sugar is dissolved – no more than 3 minutes.  Sprinkle 1 c. chopped pecans over graham crackers and pour sugar mixture over this.  Bake in 350 oven 10 minutes. – Laura Taylor

Cornflake Candy

1 qt. corn syrup                 1 qt. sugar

1 qt. peanut butter         2 large boxes cornflakes

Bring syrup and sugar to boil.  Remove from heat.  Stir in peanut butter, then pour over cornflakes.  Press into buttered pan.  Makes 2-3 dozen bars. – Diane Taylor

Lite

The Lite and Luscious that I made for dessert recently is not “lite” in the traditional sense.  Now, I’m not complaining.  It was delicious.  The final result is sort of like an orange meringue pie, with the Cool Whip serving in the place of the beaten egg whites.  Still, if I had to name it I would call it heavy and luscious or maybe rich and luscious.  Its title seems to fall into place with a culture that is taken with thinness, so much so that “lite” is considered to be an unquestionably good description.

But light doesn’t have to refer to a number of calories or the digits we see when we stand on the scale.  While health concerns do plague us in our time, being light has been on my mind in more ways than just what can be expressed in pounds.  What I am thinking of has to do with another common metaphor we use, that of “baggage.”  While many of us carry excess bulk on our bodies, we may well carry far more weight in our hearts.

The heaviness that we carry may come from memories and past experience.  Though invisible, they can drag us down more than a garment bag filled with marbles.  We are shaped by these experiences.  If we are forced to bend double with the weight, we may find it hard to straighten back up again.

It would be nice to set our memories down like a suitcase.   We could walk away from them and they wouldn’t follow us.  The choice, once made, would be final.  But memories are not so easy.  They have legs and can catch up to us from great distances.  Leaving them behind is much harder and takes a lot more work.

So in order to heal from past sadness or wounds, ongoing effort is required.  Each morning, we choose to look ahead rather than behind.  Each hour, we decide to forgive.  We cry when we need to.  We grieve what is lost.  When we feel our chest tighten up, or our hands inexplicably making fists, then we take a deep breath and turn our attention to the sunlight that we feel here and now.

It is much better to travel light.  To move through the world with eyes and hearts open completely to experience the world in the present moment.  Better this than being weighed down, with our attention continually pulled back to what can no longer be changed.  There is too much light in the world not to enjoy it.

Blessed eating!

Lite and Luscious

Crust:

1 ¼ c. plain flour                                                           ¼ t. salt

1 sm pkg. coconut cream instant pudding             ½ c. Crisco

2 T. soft margarine                                                     1 egg

Mix above ingredients until moist.  Press into 12” pizza pan.  Bake 15 minutes at 350^o. 

Filling:

6 oz. sr. cream                   1 can Eagle Brand milk

½ c. Tang orange drink mix (save ¼ g. for top)

Mix above until blended.  Spread on cooled crust.

Topping:

Spread 8 oz. Cool Whip on above.  Place 1 can mandarin orange slices on top and sprinkle with ¼ t. reserved Tang. – Ann Bass

Grace

You visit the earth and water it,
   you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
   you provide the people with grain,
   for so you have prepared it.

                                      Psalm 65:9

It is a well-known fact that God has sense of humor.  In fact, it is showing up in green on my deck.  It has taken the form of some yummy Bibb Butterhead Lettuce.  I tried to grow this lettuce last summer and my harvest was half of a salad to split between me and my husband.

This year, I learned better.  Having discovered that lettuce is a cool weather plant, I stuck the seeds in the dirt during the cold of early March.  My planting ritual was no more than that.  I did no preparation of the soil.  My planting involved no more than poking a finger in the potting mix, dropping in seed, then running back into the warm house.  My care of the plants has been negligible. 

My lavish harvest mocks me.

I have worked much harder with the tomatoes, herbs and all the other plants that I hope will one day be dinner.  I have been careful to mix the right things into the soil, to note the light requirements, to water at the proper times.  I have treated my new transplants as gingerly as you could possibly imagine.  The results to date have been mixed and are mostly yet unknown.  But my amazing crop of lettuce – grown from seed practically thrown into a bucket, then ignored – would seem to ridicule my effort, except for the one word God whispers in my ear.  “Grace.”

We unknowingly live in a world of grace.  In spite of the many ways we can hurt and be hurt, we are granted an abundance of the things we really need:  air, sunlight, soil, and people around us to help bring in the harvest.  Most of these things we couldn’t do for ourselves no matter how hard we tried.  Still we continue to act as though we were self-made, insisting that the fruits we enjoy must be of our own labors.  I believe God would beg to differ.

Whether we recognize it or not, we are a people who are saved and who live by grace.  If we work a lot or only a little, our very existence depends on the benevolent Sustainer who has created a world that will feed us.  We are called to give our best effort, but our work alone will not guarantee our sustenance.  Our task is not, however, to work less hard but to accept with gratitude that our God has given us the tools that we start with.

We experience grace in both our wildest successes and our worst failed efforts.  And every now and again, God will completely surprise us with undeserved riches.  My riches even came in green, though not the usual kind:  thick succulent lettuce leaves.  This is grace.  I’ll take it any day.

I haven’t used recipes when I’ve eaten my lettuce, so I’ll include a yummy soup recipe that I ate along with a salad.  Enjoy.

Blessed eating!

Chicken Enchilada Bisque

2 quarts water                   1 ¼ c. corn meal

1 large onion, chopped    1-2 lbs. chicken, shredded

1 t. ground cumin             1 t. chili powder

1 t. garlic powder             1 can chopped green chilies

2 c. sr. cream

Spray 4 qt. pot with oil.  Add water and corn meal.  Stir until all lumps dissolve.  Bring to a boil.  When mixture starts to bubble, continue cooking for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly.  Add chopped onion, chicken, cumin, chili powder, garlic powder and chilies; let mixture simmer on low, stirring occasionally.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Add sr. cream just before serving.  Cook, stirring occasionally until heated through.  Makes 6-8 servings. – Diane Taylor

Late

At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’   Luke 14:17

I thought I had started supper on time.  I wasn’t very late in the afternoon.  Plenty of time, I thought, for the Baked Macaroni and Cheese and the Bacon Wraps I was making for dinner.  I was wrong.  For reasons I still don’t understand, it took me way longer to prepare this meal than I had expected.  Not because the recipes are difficult.  Just . . . because.  When we finally sat down around the table, it was a half hour past the kid’s bedtime.

One of the lessons I am learning from my cookbook project is that preparing meals this way – that is, actually putting ingredients together and cooking them – just takes time.  Now if I were good at it, and if I had some practice and experience under my belt, maybe I could go faster.  But the fact remains that cooking “long hand,” preparing dishes from something close to raw ingredients will just take longer than opening a box and microwaving.  Though I still don’t want to eat them, I now see the allure of frozen pizzas.

Cooking meals from scratch is generally acknowledged to be better for us on a number of levels; nutritional, spiritual and familial to name a few.  So why do we choose the cardboard over the cutting board?  We’re not afraid of the labor.  Cost differences are usually favorable or at least negligible.  Time is the commodity on which we hope to save.

Time seems so fleeting.  There never seems to be enough.  We feel like we have too little time to do all the things we want to do, so we cook less.  “Less time in the kitchen” is a phrase that is supposed to mean something good and is often used to advertise appliances or food products.

Prepared foods are one of the many things that help maintain the illusion that we really can do it all.  Our kids can play every sport.  We can work 60 hours a week.  We can volunteer for every church or school project that comes up.  We want to imagine ourselves invincible, omnipotent.  But we’re not either of these things.  We can’t do it all.  We do have to choose and we need to choose well.

Our choices must be made carefully because, whether we realize it or not, they become our life’s priorities.  I know how stressed parents feel, trying to get their kids connected with all the best opportunities from the myriad that are available.  But I have wanted to ask them if the opportunity to kick a ball or play an instrument is really more beneficial than looking you in the eye across the dinner table.  Can an activity, however valuable, draw them closer to their life’s meaning than learning about the presence of God from a mother or father who is willing to simply sit still with them?

Opportunity is not always our friend.  With many wonderful possibilities presented to us, we can forget that the best choice may be to simply say “no.”  Let some chances go and cherish what the time brings you.  Spend some of it in the kitchen, at the table with those you care about most.

Blessed eating!

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

16 oz. package macaroni (4 cups dry) Hard to find so I use elbows

2-3 lbs Velveeta cheese cut in cubes                     2-3 cans evaporated milk

1 ½ sticks butter (use some to butter pan)           4 eggs

Salt and pepper to taste.

Cook macaroni as directed and drain.  Add butter, next add eggs, then add milk to be very soupy mixture.  Place in 9x12 pan.  Put and mix in cheese (use some cheese on top, not mixed into mixture) and salt and pepper.  Bake at 350 until top gets crispy. – Adele Johnson

Bacon Wraps

Package of sliced bacon                two cans of Prestige long green beans

½ stick of butter (melted)            ½ cup of brown sugar

1 teaspoon of garlic powder

Cut bacon strips in half.  Wrap a strip of bacon around six beans.  Line in a baking dish until bottom is covered.  Mix melted butter, brown sugar, and garlic powder.  Stir and pour mixture over beans and bacon.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes.  (Bake to desired crispness of bacon.) – Jan Kinsaul

Our Daily Bread

When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ He said to him, ‘ “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’   Matthew 22:34-40

I was coming home to Georgia from my parent’s house in Alabama when I got my first real glimpse of tornado destruction.  In Rainsville, Alabama – just north of Fort Payne – the twister had left clear marks where it had touched down.   Shattered buildings would lie next to standing ones.  Rooms were laid open, the remaining half looking for all the world as if someone could still live there and walk in at any moment.  One lovely house was spared, though a large tree lay uprooted, parallel to the front door and only a few feet away.  Other houses were not so fortunate.  The tornado had bobbed along taking some property, leaving others.  I got a first-hand view of the destruction of such storms, as well as their caprice. 

Tornadoes, along with all the storms that we encounter, raise questions for Christians.  How can such things happen?  Why do they happen?  How can we live with God in the face of such uncertainty?  We can answer these questions easily as we sit comfortably within four standing walls.  But when our lives are thrown horribly out of whack, the questions become far more vivid and real.  They are in our face and in our mouths, and we demand answers.  We Christians rail against the uncertainty we must live with, and the chance of which we are victim.

But live with it we must.  No amount of theology will change it.  We can only take action in response.  We can remain who we are called to be, whether circumstances are favorable or not.  In the North Georgia Conference (of the United Methodist Church), efforts are organized and ongoing to match volunteers and donations with the needs that exist.  Offerings are being taken, teams and individuals are drawing together to give what they can of their time and energy.  If you are interested in donating or volunteering, you can learn more by clicking here.

Our scripture plainly tells us that this is who we are.  This is our daily bread:  to uphold one another.  To comfort and look out for one another.  To make sure everyone has enough. 

I thought of this as I made bread for my mom and dad.  I had been visiting with them before my eye-opening drive through the wreckage.  They were dealing with their own injuries and surgeries, and I was there to lend a hand.  The bread came from our family cookbook.  It is a delicious recipe, but the crust was very hard when I made it.  I didn’t have a mixer, but did it by hand which may well have had an effect on the texture.  We ate it with both potato soup and butternut squash and carrot soup.  A very good meal.

May you both receive and offer bread this day.  In the breaking of bread, may you see the living Christ.

Bread Dough

2 T. yeast                                             2 c. hot tap water

1 t. sugar                                              1 T. salt

5-6 c. plain (unbleached) flour    fat, opt*

*You can add a stick of margarine or some oil, but I usually don’t add any at all.  You will need more flour then. 

All the measurements are approximate.  The yeast equals about 2 packages.  I think.  I get mine from Sam’s in one pound bags.  Put yeast, sugar, and salt in the bottom of a mixer bowl.  Add the hot tap water.  Let sit for 5 minutes.  If it begins to look foamy it is good yeast.  Add 4 cups of flour and using the dough hooks mix on low until flour is just mixed.  Scrape flour off the sides with a spatula.  You can then turn the mixer up to medium to better mix the dough.  Turn it down when dough is well mixed and add more flour a little at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Add flour and mix until you can just touch the dough and it doesn’t stick much to your fingers.  Remove bowl.  Spray top with oil and place in a warm area.  Cover with plastic wrap to keep the top from getting crusty, although this won’t hurt it.  Let it rise for an hour or two, punch the dough down if it gets too high.  I use this for making pizza, or flatbread, and sometimes I roll it out and sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top, then roll it up like a jelly roll to make a cinnamon bread loaf.  Let rise the finished product until double.  Bake at 350^o until brown. 

Flat bread:  Divide dough into four or five sections.  On a floured surface roll each piece of dough out thin until it just fits inside a large cookie sheet.  Place on a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with oil.  Top with thin slices of tomato, shredded basil leaves (or 1 ½ t. dried basil), thin slivers of onion, and top with shredded Parmesan.  Bake at 350^o (more or less) until is brown and crisp.  Break into pieces and serve warm.  Instead of tomato and basil, spread Vidalia onion vinaigrette on top then add thin slivers of onion and some Parmesan.  This makes a neat bread to serve instead of rolls or biscuits. – Diane Taylor

Easter Season

For you shall go out in joy,
   and be led back in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.                     Isaiah 55:12

My liturgy teacher in seminary told me that the message of Easter was far too great to be contained in a single day.  In doing so, she reminded us that Easter on the liturgical calendar is an entire season lasting through Pentecost, not a single dress-up occasion.  While this is completely true, it is often hard to remember while walking through the day-to-day practical life of the church.

Most pastors and church leaders have worked so hard to prepare for Easter Sunday, they have an understandable collapse immediately following the big day.  The church visitors who donned their new dresses or ties will hang them in neatly the closet, possibly wondering if the Christmas eve service will be as nice.  The regular membership of the church, who keep things going throughout the year, cast their eyes toward the long, hot months that are coming and start making vacation plans.  Easter brings on Summer Brain.  Things slow down a bit.

I feel this myself.  The warm weather has made me long for the road, to be on my way – to go somewhere exciting, or to just go somewhere!   In the town where I live, I often can get a good view of the North Georgia mountains, and I know that the Smokies are not far behind.  They sit beckoningly on the horizon, reminding me of the world beyond.  So often when I’m on my way to somewhere that I’m supposed to be, I’ll feel the urge to bypass the parking lot and just step on the gas!

Maybe there is some sense in this.  It may seem terribly imbalanced to connect my longing to be somewhere other than home with Jesus’ choice to be somewhere other than the grave, but I’m not sure it is so far off.  In the Resurrection, reality cracked open and we learned that there is more to the universe than we previously thought or could imagine.  God became bigger – or rather, we got a wider glimpse of the God that we worship.  Existence is now staggeringly greater than it had been.  I would hope, at the very least, that we find it hard to go back to our normal routines after being witness to this.  I hope we are impatient with life as we know it.

I have been thinking of this because we had pesto for dinner last night.  Last summer I made this pesto, when my world had been temporarily turned upside down and I had decided to head for the hills.  I was due at Lake Junaluska in North Carolina by nightfall, but I saw that my basil was trying hard to go to seed and I knew it would be worthless by the time I got back.  So I loaded my suitcase in the car, went back inside and pulled out the food processor.

The recipe I used can be found here.  I liked that it had one step in the directions:  blend.  Pesto freezes well and we have been enjoying till this very day.  It was worth being a little late.

I hope that Easter makes us restless.  We may think we long for sand and sun, or mountains, or fresh air but underneath all of this I think we are yearning for more of God than we have in our hands right now.  We know that there is more to be had and are just feeling around for the best way to find it.  Keep searching.  Spend this season making your way forward even if you’re not sure what direction forward is.  If it requires some gasoline or a plane ticket, so be it.  The quiet voice that is egging us on is none other than the Spirit of the Living God calling to us in a single word.  “Come.”